Do PhDs in the Humanities teach their subject of research in Mid East universities (as opposed to teaching only ESL, etc.)?

If so, are they compensated well? In the US, a PhD in English Lit, for example, can expect to start a professorship making only about $46,000 per year. In the Mid East, are offers better? I suppose if they offer housing, that instantly makes it "better," but I would hope for considerably better than that.

I'm confused... are you interested in teaching "Humanities" or EFL? I have never seen any "Humanities" courses offered in any of the universities where I was employed. (check the websites... perhaps American University of Sharjah?)

And if you plan to teach EFL, you will need to provide the proper educational credentials.

The market for English Literature, History, Cultural Studies or whatever you brand "Humanities" as, is small. And it IS a market. The jobs are in teaching English as a Second Language/Foreign Language/Additional Language, whatever.

In most jobs, apart from the BAe/Raytheon megabuck-payers, you are looking at 10,000 to 15,000 SR monthly with free housing, tickets, medical care, educational allowances.

The Humanities lecturers who I know at UAE University teach their specialist subject (e.g. Geography, Linguistics etc), but are also often (not always) required to teach other subjects in the General Education list of courses or college general requirements courses, especially in their first couple of years in the college.

They come in as Assistant Professor or Professor, depending on their background, length of experience, previous positions held in other universities, and of course their research. One Assistant Professor who I know in the College of Humanities gets paid only a little more than the highest paid UGRU English teachers. I've been told that lecturers in other colleges, e.g. Engineering, IT, Business, etc., get paid more on average than Humanities lecturers, as their pay scales need to compete with those of other employers, and it would be difficult to recruit and retain specialists in those fields.

There are also PhD holders in Humanities subjects teaching EFL in the General Requirements Unit. They get paid according to the UGRU pay scale.

Greetings, and Happy Holidays to you all. Thank you for your replies, but can you define two terms for me?

BAe/Raytheon and UGRU..

"BAe" is something of a misnomer...actually the real name is BAe Systems and is a British company delivering English to the Saudi Royal Air Force. Raytheon is another military contractor, only, this time, American and deals exclusively with the Saudi Royal Air Defence Forces. BAe Systems...read: Dhahran and Raytheon...read: mostly Jeddah.

UGRU = University General Requirements Unit, basically the "Foundations" unit of the University of the United Arab Emirates in the Abu Dhabi Emirate city of Al Ain.

I like my cat a lot--a handsome half-Persian/ half-American short-hair named Lucky.

Coming home I have this dialogue routine with him:

Me--"I know what you're thinking, punk. Did I teach six classes, or was it only five? Well with the excitement and all, I sorta lost track myself. But seeing as how Headway is the most powerful curriculum in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you have to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky?"

Dear Sheik,
Wow, the Saudi board, the UAE board and this one; you're really rock & rolling tonight.
Thanks for brightening up my New Year's Eve.
Hope 2009 is the Happiest of New Years for you - until 2010, that is.
Regards,
John

As a PhD with over 25 years of experience working in the Middle East I can tell you that it is a bit hit and miss. I have my PhD in philosophy and an MA in ELT when I have been in English Departments I was sometimes asked to teach a freshman English class, and when in a Philosophy department I was sometimes asked to teach on the Civilization Studies program. Both were OK, I always got enough graduate & undergraduate courses to keep me going. The real question is why the Middle East? If you are a serious academic outside of the American University of Beirut you will not exactly be teaching at a respected university, some of the new gulf universities with strong ties to American institutions might be acceptable but most are new and the reviews are mixed. There are also plenty to stay away from they are just mills. A lot depends on your discipline but you can pretty much forget conferences and research which whilst demanded are not really supported by most places. You also have to think that many of the universities require a leaching load of 12+ hours per week, so not much time for research in any case. The money is also not that great at best it compares with the low end of the scale for an American university. As I said AUB would be your best bet, and if you consider Turkey an option try METU it is the best university in Turkey and is a real research institution with very high standards and very supportive. If you go to their North Cyprus campus the housing is also great and the pay reasonable. For me I have given up on the Middle East I’m off to Europe in the Fall of 2009 it has taken me 5 hard years and 2 books to finally get a full professorship in a 2nd rate university, but once one has had ones cultural fill the Middle East doesn’t really have that much to offer, not even the big $ like the old days. Good luck, and think twice.

Temba has it right: think twice indeed!! Veiledsentiments has got it wrong, there are loads of jobs for humanities PhD’s in the Middle East, just check out the Chronicle, the Times Higher Ed or Higher Ed Jobs there must be over 100 listings as of today. But be warned stay away from the ELT positions these TEFLERS are a breed apart.Tthe Turks house them in separate buildings called prep schools and with good reason, do some research on this site and you will come to understand what I mean!!

Oh Hudda... aren't you sweet to join our ESL board merely to diss ESL teachers. Happy New Year to you too...

I agree with temba. I would guess that the majority of Humanities professor positions are mostly in universities with "American" in their name. AUC, AUB, AUS, AUK... But, I would estimate that of the professors in the average Gulf or national universities, 90+% of the profs are in the sciences, maths, engineering, education, and business. TEFL teachers are always getting asked to cross over and teach a humanities related course in the private colleges because demand doesn't require an actual department. Some places will have a small English Lit\linguistics department - strongly tied to the education department. Few are the places that I have encountered that teach classical languages, art, philosophy, or music - which is what I consider humanities courses.